Is Oriol Romeu almost as good as N’Golo Kante?

Follow us on Google Discover

Southampton manager Claude Puel says that Oriol Romeu is almost as good as Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Southampton’s Oriol Romeu during training

Southampton manager Claude Puel has made a bold claim ahead of the Saint’s Premier League clash against Chelsea on Tuesday night.

He believes that Southampton midfielder Oriol Romeu is not far off the standard set by the PFA player of the year, N’Golo Kante.

The 25-year-old midfielder joined Chelsea in 2011 from Barcelona, but failed to break into the senior team on a regular basis. He was sold to Southampton in 2015 where he has become a key player for the Saints.

Puel says that Romeu is important for the side because he does a fantastic work in recovering the ball and builds up the game immediately.

He adds that Kante brings the same qualities to Chelsea as Romeu for Southampton, and that both these players are very consistent.

Southampton’s Oriol Romeu looks dejected after the game

“I think he’s not far off Kante,” Puel said, as quoted by ESPN. “He is very important for us. He recovers the ball so well and is a technical player.

“If we see the quality of his games since the beginning of the season, N’Golo Kante brings the same qualities as Oriol for us because he’s very consistent and in every game he gives good performances, with consistency and quality.

Is Romeu on the same level with Kante?

Let us check the stats. Romeu makes 3.3 tackles on an average per game and 2.3 interceptions, where as Kante 3.5 tackles per game and 2.4 interceptions.

Romeu makes 1.8 clearances compared to 1.3 by Kante.

The former Chelsea midfielder manages 0.7 shots per game and 0.7 key passes compared to 0.8 and 0.6 by Kante.

The Frenchman is very good at passing – with an average passing rate of 61.2 per game and 88.8% accuracy, he is one of the best in the Premier League in this category.

Romeu makes around 57 passes per game on an average with 84.1% passing accuracy (all stats taken from whoscored.com)

Thus, we can see, defensively Romeu is not far behind Kante, but in terms of ball possession, passing accuracy and dictating the tempo of the game, the Frenchman is ahead of him.

Southampton’s Oriol Romeu in action with Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy